Comments on: Sharks get young Prince of Wings

By: mxhosa

mxhosa — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:45:52 +0000

@mabi-37:

Nam ndilindele ukubona ba zingaphi ezizophelela kwiKings… Over the years, very few have left the EC and actually made it at those bigger unions. Look at Andile Jho, SA schools two years in a row, he can’t even get a starting spot in the Bulls u21 side.

By: mabu

mabu — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:49:59 +0000

i wonder if any of the Dalians from the impressive team of last year have contracts with any unions.

By: THE MAULER

THE MAULER — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:16:56 +0000

Sharks signing some good youngsters!! Impressive… Pieter Jordaan a great signing for WP… Runs very good lines and breaks just like his brother!

By: The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food

The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:09:22 +0000

@Tankman-34: To be fair to young du Plessis though:

The Pollard nonsense last year is what made the kid show the WPRFU a middle finger I reckon.

The manner in which the WPRFU bent over backwards, and fell over their beerbellies to woo Pollard, when it was aready OBVIOUS and well known to everyone but them it seems, that he was on his way to Pretoria, must have been a bitter pill for Jean_Luc to swallow.

Pollard got the Craven week captaincy, and starting 10 spot on the mistaken belief that he would stay here…..(after what his father had said along with oblivious morons at the WPRFU – all this when his bags were already packed….)

So much was ‘invested’ in Handre I reckon, that kids like Jean-Luc were pretty much ignored….. The WPRFU caused all this IMHO.

By: Tankman

Tankman — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:02:42 +0000

Stormers tell me that Carel’s son, Jean-Luc du Plessis, was offered a place at the WP Rugby Institute and a WP contract for this year … But chose Durban. Can’t keep them all I suppose … Western Province have signed two SA Schools flyhalves, Pieter Jordaan (Free State) and Ryno Eksteen (Blue Bulls), with the duo set to further their rugby careers in Cape Town from the start of 2013.

By: garth

garth — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 05:32:50 +0000

Are there any younger kids coming through the ranks? It would be great if province could hold onto one of them.

By: stormer in a teacup

stormer in a teacup — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:46:37 +0000

The more province boys who play top flight rugby the better off we all are.

By: Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:01:40 +0000

@gunther-30: Not enough stats and besides baseball is a more individualistic 'team' sport than football and NFL

By: gunther

gunther — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:58:29 +0000

@David-19: People have tried to apply the moneyball theory to other sports like football and American Football but it doesn't really work.

By: bryce_in_oz

bryce_in_oz — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:16:14 +0000

@Slartibartfast-28:

Hehe… yeah all that spittle that flies does the sand no good in any case…

As for the article… good to see the Sharks trying to bolster their prop stocks from the bottom-up… they need them desperately…

By: Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:59:37 +0000

@bryce_in_oz-27: He applied to carry the sand bucket for the kickers because 'he knows sand' but when they told him the kickers use a tee these days he got all confused and abusive and they kicked him out. I think he burnt that particular bridge...

By: bryce_in_oz

bryce_in_oz — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:47:35 +0000

@Slartibartfast-26: Well he's welcome to try and qualify for a bit-part in the niche-market, billion Dollar industry that is top-flight professional rugby...

By: Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:18:37 +0000

@bryce_in_oz-25: Maybe not huge pay-packets but probably more than skoppelos makes building toilets, would you not be bitter as well?

By: bryce_in_oz

bryce_in_oz — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 02:15:19 +0000

@skopdiekan-24: Why so bitter Ubu... these kids are hardly going on to huge pay-packets being signed into the Academy?

By: skopdiekan

skopdiekan — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 23:22:54 +0000

Stupid mercenaries making money immorality straight out the cradle pathetic professional profiteers before they can even sign their own insurance policy statement

By: lepel

lepel — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:19:00 +0000

@Robzim-18: It's a serious problem in our country that the Bulls are swooping up all these youngsters. So many of them fall through the cracks if there are so many of them. Some players peak a little later, but the Bulls scrap you early if you don't make it and then guys just fall by the wayside.

By: The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food

The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:09:53 +0000

@John Galt-5: Wow. That seems to be a helluva unpleasant situation. Very true what was said in the article by the Sharksmart fella. School sport.....utterly insane and a breeding ground for all sorts of 'evils'.

By: hendrikp

hendrikp — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:26:52 +0000

Well… Province did get Pieter Jordaan, and the Lions have Jaco van der Walt (I assume).

Personally I don’t mind spreading the wealth

By: Dusky

Dusky — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:09:34 +0000

Good decision Jean-Luc and Carel ! Well done !

By: David

David — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:59:23 +0000

Interesting to see these youngsters being grabbed so quickly compared to the Moneyball theory of successful signings.